I'm a classical musician and a vegetarian. I eat mostly a plant-based diet and love finding new vegan & raw recipes to try. Blogging is a new passion of mine and I try to post as often as I can (between rehearsals and concerts) Eat smart!

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Thursday, June 24, 2010

I think my husband is getting annoyed with me. I research health food stores like crazy and I want to try ALL of them!! Is that so wrong? Ok, he hates shopping, so I guess that's understandable. Sorry S. Thanks for putting up with me :)

I've found some really cool stores on our travels though.

Knoxville, TN: Three Rivers Market. Awesome store. They have TONS of vegan stuff, including Daiya cheese, several different yoghurts and non-dairy milks. They also carry bulk grains, although the one grain I wanted, they didn't carry....sniff.....my whole oat groats.

Cool stuff I got:

Cincinnati, OH: I stopped at Jungle Jim's. I LOVE that place. I used to shop there regularly when we lived there. I so miss it. Their beer selection is to die for. I picked up several.....Wheach (a peach wheat from the St. Louis area), BBC Nut Brown Ale, and several others in single bottles. They have a huge selection of natural/vegetarian foods as well as international foods galore. This store is measured in acres...

One of the beer's I purchased...it even says it's vegan friendly on the back! A bit too sweet, but not bad:

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

This post will be mostly pictures of all the great food we've been having!

First off, Knoxville, TN:

The TomatoHead restaurant.....really great place to eat. They will veganize for you, but a lot of the food is already vegetarian and they DO have vegan cheese. They have some great local/regional beer on tap. And a daily vegan cupcake! (oh and cookies, haha).

The Kepner melt w/soup of the day (vegan):

The vegan cupcake of the day:

Veg-O-Rama. New vegetarian restaurant near our friend's house. They also have local beer on tap:

Noodle Salad (vegan):

Chili Dog w/soup of the day(chili dog is vegan, soup was not):

Special of the Day SO TASTY! (sweet potato/bl. bean tacos, vegan):

Then off to Cincinnati, OH:

Myra's Dionysus(near the university). WAY too many choices. We ate there twice in one day! Excellent for vegans:

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Hey everyone! So sorry for not having posted in over a week. And just to let you know, there won't be much posting over the next month.....but hopefully I'll be able to at least post some pics from various travels and eats.

I was a bit angry, as I noticed that the poster for my blog had been taken down at the market. Grrrrr......not too happy about that. At first, I gave them several copies, to put on the table so people could just take them. They decided it would be better to hang just ONE on the wall. I didn't think so....who's gonna remember the website? Anyway, now there's nothing and I know they still have several copies, unless they threw them away. I don't think I'll say anything though......usually I would, but since I shop there every week....probably not the best idea. What do you think?

I made some of the pattypan squash from the previous week into that stuffed pattypan I'd made before. You can find it here. This time I used up the rest of my Teese mozzarella. Didn't melt as well on top, but melted really nicely when mixed into the hot stuffing. Still tasty though :)

Still have a ton of yellow crookneck squash, even though I've tried to sneak it into whatever I can (husband doesn't like it). Can I puree it and freeze it? Maybe to make salad dressing out of it later? Any ideas?

Chocolate spread on matzoh! When you're craving sweets, you gotta do whatcha gotta do! Take a handful or more of vegan chocolate chips and put them in a bowl, into the microwave. Heat them on high for 30 seconds at a time, mixing after each. Add in a few drops of non-dairy milk and nuke another 30 seconds. Make sure it's nice and smooth. Work quickly and spread it onto your matzoh. Put it in the fridge for several minutes to let the chocolate harden and there you have a nice quick dessert!

Cucumber noodles with raw marinara (my husband preferred the zucchini, but I found cucumber pretty refreshing):

I made Averie's Raw Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls, although to me they were more like oatmeal chocolate chip. They are incredible! I made them twice and the second time, I actually did 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup cashews and only about 1 Tbsp of sweetener. Still incredible! Thanks, Averie :)

I made some Golden Zucchini Bread again. See my original post about it here. This time I added raisins, used all spelt flour, and it was REALLY good!

Here's a picture of my new steamer that I got for over 50% off at Dillards! And of course, a picture of my colorful steamed vegetables :)

Made some guacamole: 2 avocados, 1 chopped tomato, some cilantro, salt, and lemon juice, all mashed up together.

My guacamole, mixed with cooked brown rice, taco seasoning, and broccoli slaw for a great cold power lunch:

Cooked up some red quinoa and mixed it with a ton of chopped vegetables, added some balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and garlic for a great dressing.

And last, but not least, I made up some of that great Tempeh Barbecue (used shiitakes this time):

Ok, I think I'm mostly caught up. It's been really hot here...in the mid 90's with high humidity. Still trying to get my walking in, though.

Still contemplating the blender vs. food processor situation. But...I think I've decided to wait on the Vita-Mix because it's so dang expensive. I'm going to get a large food processor and get some sort of small cheaper blender. Any suggestions? Something good for salad dressings, smoothies (that can handle frozen fruit) and sauces.

Blogger of the Week: FatFreeVegan. She's got TONS of recipes that are right up my alley: fat free (or lowfat) and vegan, yay! Check her out. This was one of the first blogs I ever started following.